EU's unemployment rate at 6.8 pct in July

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

The European Union's unemployment rate in July was 6.8 percent, the lowest figure recorded in the 28-member EU bloc since April 2008, according to an official data released on Friday.

Eurostat said the EU28 unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point on a monthly basis -- 6.9 percent in June -- and it went down 0.8 percentage point from 7.6 percent in the same month last year.

The eurozone (EA19) unemployment rate was 8.2 percent last month, down from 9.1 percent in July 2017 -- the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since November 2008.

"Eurostat estimates that 16.8 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 13.3 million in the euro area, were unemployed in July 2018," the statistical office said.

"Compared with June 2018, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 82,000 in the EU28 and by 73,000 in the euro area," it said. "Compared with July 2017, unemployment fell by 1.9 million in the EU28 and by 1.3 million in the euro area."

The official report also showed that the highest unemployment rates were recorded in Greece with 19.5 percent -- May figures --, Spain with 15.1 percent and Italy with 10.4 percent.

The lowest rates were observed in the Czech Republic with 2.3 percent, Germany Poland with 3.4 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

Eurostat noted that around 3.3 million young people -- aged under 25 -- were unemployed in the EU.

"In July 2018, the youth unemployment rate was 14.8 percent in the EU28 and 16.6 percent in the euro area, compared with 16.8 percent and 18.7 percent respectively in July 2017," it said, adding:

"The lowest rates were observed in Germany (6.1 percent), Malta (6.3) and the Czech Republic (6.6), while the highest recorded in Greece (39.7 percent in May 2018), Spain (33.4) and Italy (30.8)."